Crime and Punishment

Just like obituaries its every reporters fate to cover the crime beat in some backwoods small town newspaper. But I thought this chapter did a nice job of making it sound interesting and important to new reporters like myself. I mean, it is kind of cool if you think about it -- like some old time black and white movie where the reporter is sleeping on a police station bench waiting for some huge story to break...sorry I get off on these tangents!

Oh I have to say this, in the preparation section of the chapter they always mention going to the morgue first. And I have to admit to my diztyness here, I always think, "that is so gross and morbid." But then I remember that is what they call the database newspapers use to catalogue all old news stories and photographs...geez....

I also thought the example of what a crime report looks like to be very helpful. I myself -- luckily -- have never seen one of those before. I wouldn't have been able to even take a guess at what one would look like. Also the list of the three main sources every reporter should get when on the scene of a crime: police officers and their reports, victims and witnesses. It sounds silly but every reporter needs a little reminder of what is important every once in awhile. I wish thought the chapter had disscussed more of how to deal with a victim of a crime or housefire. It's one thing to just say go ask them questions, but its another to stay within your own personal ethical boundries while doing your job as a reporter. Perhaps there is no easy way around it and the only thing one can do is learn as you go.

I also felt the court section was very important. A lot of students don't realize how complex the court system can be when covering it. This past summer in Washington DC I wrote a story about the reporters who cover the Supreme Court as their beat. Now what most people might not know is that Supreme Court Justices will NOT talk to the public, even the communciations office in the building is kept under a tight no-talk-policy. I couldn't even get a janitor to talk to me! But eventually I was able to get a hold of the Washington Post's beat reporter for the Supreme Court along with the Boston Globe's. Both cool guys and nice enough to let me interview them. But basically they practically had law degrees to be able to take these 100 pages of a decision and break it down into something the average reader might understand. A very difficult process that made me rethink law school.

All of the libel laws that were discussed in the chapter are also very tricky things. And I also didn't completely understand the idea behind why a reporter would use Megan's Law when looking for adresses of defendants? The book was not completely clear on that.

www.supremecourtus.gov/
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